Other Blogs That May Be Of No Interest To You

Sunday, May 13, 2007

A stream of conciousness update

So, I really don't think anybody reads this thing any more. Which is probably a good thing because I obviously don't write on here any more. However, it has been a while so here we go.

The semester is almost done. Did you just feel that wind blow? That was my sigh of relief. I am so very burned out and so very ready for summer to come along and say "hi". That is, except for the fact that I don't have a job yet.

This no job predicament seems to be the function of two things, 1) I really haven't had the mental energy to go chasing after internships and selling myself and 2) I really don't know what I want to do with the rest of my life. Now I guess the latter could actually be beneficial in the sense that I could really do anything this summer and not feel as if I wasted my time with something that won't be transferable to my post-graduation career. Along that line of reasoning perhaps I will persue a position selling red dogs at Fenway. 30 Red Sox games for free this summer? Man that beats being the understudy of a senior loan officer with a community development financial institution any day.

I am not completely worried yet though. My life seems to be a last minute kind of life. Everything is always last minute. Honestly, everything....I have some papers that I am supposed to be finishing up for tomorrow right now. Guess what? I'm not, I am writing on Blogger instead. Hah, take that on-time people (as I stick my thumbs in my ears and wiggle my fingers in a sign of derision). Anyways, the last minute things seems to be working okay so far. And it provides a certain level of comfort too.

I do have a place to live though. I will be back in the ol' "22", which is exciting. As long as I don't get my ass shot, that is. Just kidding it will be fine. I think.

So, job or no job, I will be back into Boston for the summer on June 30. Although, I am pretty bad at keeping in touch with people in general so that will probably be a surprise to friends that I have still living there. (Sidenote - "Hi Boston friends, sorry for not keeping in touch better I am moving back into town soon"-end of sidenote).

About those paper's that I am editing: I really should return to that.

I hope to report that I am gainfully employed soon, but in the interim please let me know if you have any leads on working with an agency that is doing good community development related things in the Boston area.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

My Genes Are Too Short

So, I am a night owl...always have been. My dad is a night owl, my uncles are night owls, my brother is a night owl. The 9-5 world is not conducive to my ability to function.

Well, a couple of British researchers may have shed a bit of light on the issue. See story from a recent edition of the Economist below. Interesting....very interesting....

How well you can think at night may be determined by your genes

"THE idea that people might be chosen or rejected for jobs on the basis of their genes disturbs many. Such discrimination may, however, be a step closer, thanks to work just published in Current Biology by Derk-Jan Dijk and his colleagues at the University of Surrey, in England.

Dr Dijk studies the biology of time-keeping—in particular of the part of the internal body-clock that sends people to sleep and wakes them up. One of the genes involved in regulating this clock is known as PER3 and comes in two forms. Dr Dijk's work suggests that one of these forms is more conducive to night-shift work than the other.

The two forms of PER3 translate into two slightly different proteins, one of which is longer than the other. Previous work by this group showed that people with two short versions of the gene (one from each parent) are more likely to be “owls”, preferring to get up late and go to bed late. “Larks”—in other words, early risers, have two long versions.

Pursuing this line of enquiry, Dr Dijk and his team have been studying how such people respond to sleep deprivation. Two dozen volunteers, some genetic owls and some genetic larks, were forced to stay awake for two days.

The genetic larks reacted to this worse than the owls did. In particular, larks given memory tests and puzzles to solve between the hours of four and eight in the morning turned in far worse performances than did owls. Their brain waves, as measured by electroencephalography, also suggested that when they were eventually allowed to sleep, they slept more deeply than owls. (Deep sleep is associated with slow brain waves, and larks spent 50% more time in such slow-wave sleep than owls did.)

What implications that may have for employers is not fully clear. As the researchers point out, this was a laboratory study, not one that involved handling the problems of the real world. Nevertheless, it is intriguing. There may yet come a time when employers running night shifts will want a blood sample from prospective employees—if only to protect themselves against negligence suits should someone have an accident."

Friday, February 16, 2007

Line 76 hasn't always been this depressing

Tonight was not the best Friday night that I've ever had. Let's just call it "okay, I just really need to sit down and do my taxes" night. However, Larsen and Furious Jane made tax time just a little more enjoyable....and boppier, as I did the twist in my desk chair.

Do yourself a favor and stream their album "Tourist with a Typewriter" while doing your taxes, you may even thank the tax man for giving you the chance. In particular, try out tracks 1 and 10, they make the perfect bread for this audio sandwich.